aisle five » hemmings a.u.

thirty-seven

some confusion

my last chapter labeled "GUYS LMAO" was not a joke nor a trick or a reason for you to bring on the pitch forks nor to give you trust issues

in chapter 36, I said "sara, her boyfriend nick, marie" and y'all flipped patootie bc you forgot that sara's bf's name is nick, as said in chapter 20. so.

but ye that happened

here's an update to make up for that I guess I think I suppose I presume I say dear god it is 5:30am and I haven't slept so this ought to be good

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Emma woke up the next morning with a headache as if she was hungover.

And maybe she was hungover from a terrible heartache because she just missed him so bad. Feeling his kiss was like a little taste of home and she was really homesick. It could not have been a worse way to end a good birthday. She honestly felt like she wanted to explode and implode all at once and also, she wanted to lay down and eat pizza rolls by the dozen.

She was getting real sick and tired of this sad thing, too. Em was used to waking up and looking forward to whatever the day would bring her but now she dreaded going to sleep because then she'd have to wake up. And waking up meant being sad all over.

So she got out of bed and dressed slack because who even cared?

Her mum told her she should start packing for her new home and that made her more sad because deep down she wanted to live with Luke but no. That wouldn't happen. So more sadness.

As she piled her things into boxes, she turned on shuffle on her phone and (ironically) (for many reasons) Be Alright by Justin Bieber came on. "Jesus is on my side today," she muttered sarcastically. She didn't even change it either because it was helping her self wallow wash away somehow. Over the course of a few hours she'd packed eighty percent of her things up into boxes. It was so surreal, was she actually moving out?

Her mum gave her the address of the building and gave her the keys and room number and all of that jazz and with the boxes in the back of her truck, she went on her way.

The building was pretty big, with around eight floors. She grabbed her purse and went in so she could check out the place first. Em waved to the lobbyist (an older woman who looked like a bird that Emma mentally called Birdwoman) and then went to the elevator, and went up to her floor (four, if you were wondering). She found her room with ease as it was the second door on the left, 4C. Em unlocked it and almost cried as she walked in.

It was fully furnished, complete with dishes and everything, and a television and washer and dryer. "Oh my shoot," she muttered as she walked around, touching everything. Em went into the only bedroom and squealed as she saw a large king bed with a good sized tv mounted above the dresser. It had a bathroom built into the bedroom, and then another one out in the main part. The kitchen was nice, too.

She did a little dance in the comfort of her solitude (because she could since no one was there to make fun of her) and then set her purse down on her own couch, grabbing her keys and adding the apartment key to the keychain. Emma decided she'd get all of the boxes up, and then go home and finish, and she'd spend her first night here tonight.

Two hours later, she was back at home, crying to her mum about how perfect it was and her mum told her to look in the fridge when she got back.

When her room was empty, including sheets and picture frames, she sat on her bed looked under her bed and under the dressers and everything to make sure she got everything. It was cleaned out. Robin said to leave the furniture so she could turn it into a guest room.

She hurried back to her flat and unloaded the boxes (there weren't that many), locking her truck. Up in her home (she couldn't get over that) she dropped the boxes on the floor and sighed, looking in the fridge, finding a mini Pepsi and then a note.

Look in the freezer :) - Mum

Emma opened the freezer and shrieked because there were two boxes of pizza rolls and she started crying again because she had the best mum ever and this was really happening. Ten minutes later she invited all her friends (she really only had four) to come over and bring food so they could party in her own flat. She actually almost dialed Luke, but stopped herself. Phew.

Sara showed up first with Nick, who was carrying beer and chips. Then Ben came (with his really pretty girlfriend Rachel) who actually brought useful food like canned goods and stuff that'd last her a while, and then Marie came . . . with Ashton. Emma liked Ashton and all, but felt kind of awkward because he was- Well, you get it.

And then Emma got sad again because she looked at all these couples and realized how lonely she was again, but put on a happy face for the sake of her company. They all ended up drinking beer on her new bed because it was big enough to hold the entirety of Europe. She laughed a lot and was pretty content with her friends.

"I cannot believe you live alone and you have a better flat than Sara and I," Marie pouted and Em shrugged innocently. "So, has anything, um, interesting happened. In life. Generally speaking."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Me and Luke aren't back together," she tutted, knowing exactly what her friend meant. It was okay, too, because she didn't need him.

Okay, maybe she did.

But look, she was in her own flat, with her own friends, living a pretty cool life. Luke was just . . . He would maybe happen again in the future. But she needed to worry about the present and how she had work later that evening so she could pay rent. Because those were real things to worry about. Luke wasn't a real problem, right? Fuck it, she needed him really bad.

"Earth to Em."

She blinked and blushed when she realized she'd just zoned out really bad. "What?" she asked, smiling cheekily.

Sara gestured to Nick. "We have to get going because he has work in the morning," she said and Em nodded, standing up and giving her pal a hug. How great was it that she could spend more time with them now that she was closer? "Bye, wife. I'll see you."

Em didn't feel like walking them out so she didn't. She sat back down and Ben smiled at her. "Hey, we're gonna' get going, too," he said and Emma smiled, nodding. "S'ya at work."

And then Ashton and Marie left, and she was left alone. She didn't even have time to unpack any, because she had to get ready for work. What a busy life. Emma failed to realize that she wasn't even thinking about Luke, either. She was thinking about her friends and work and anything but him.

That was good, right?